Archive for June, 2011

The two covers below were songs I could not find on Youtube, Myspace or Soundcloud, so I'm doing the next best thing: posting them as Spotify links. If you don't have Spotify yet, you will have to get an account and install the client on your computer or mobile device, and you only get limited free service, so it's a little more awkward than using those other services. But for checking out new music, I've found Spotify very worthwhile to use, and may even upgrade to the paid service eventually.

Wow by Liza Lee is a jazzy cover of the Kate Bush classic from Lionheart. I like it, right until the point where the chorus starts; Lee's interpretation of the chorus lacks expression and sounds rushed. It's like she was at home with the verses but did not know what to do with the choruses. I still bought it off iTunes, as a) it's interesting; and b) part the proceeds of the record it's on, Anima, go to charity. Lee, who had a stroke at an early age, is dedicating the record to stroke research.

Running Up That Hill by Kevin Slick was one of my favourite versions of 'Running Up That Hill' when I started the series, and I was very disappointed that I couldn't find it on YouTube. After hearing too many stripped down versions of 'Running up That Hill', I'm not quite as enthusiastic about it anymore, but it's still a nice version for those long, hot, lazy summer nights where you also dig out the Fleet Foxes albums.

Now to find the Danielle French version somewhere. That still is a solid favorite.

'Be Kind to My Mistakes' is a bit of a rarity now. It was originally part of the soundtrack for the Nicholas Roeg film Castaway which has not been commercially available for years and has never had a DVD release, to the best of my knowledge. It was included in the boxed set This Woman's Work, which has not been commercially available for years, but can be found on the used record market and through the Bittorrents. Though recorded after the release of Hounds of Love, it was tacked on to the 1997 reissue of that album as a bonus track, but that version is also no longer currently available. The current Fish People reissue of Hounds of Love has no bonus tracks. For the purpose of keeping score, the cover version is tagged as a song from This Woman's Work.

Er... yeah. So my original plan was to follow up the famous Kate Bush covers, the ones by Maxwell, the Futureheads, Placebo, what have you, with an encore round. I was going to return to some artists featured earlier that had done multiple Kate Bush covers and select another one that they had done.
Then over the weekend, I got so busy with working on my comics that I just forgot, and from Monday through Wednesday, my day job kicked my ass so hard I'm going to be reeling from it through the Ascension Day weekend, and I was happy to just have dinner and crash every day. But I have a day off, and the Kate Bush and Homeground news and information forum just alerted me to this, which is rather nice.

A nice electronic version of 'Suspended in Gaffa' from The Dreaming by Chrome Canyon, bringing the original song up to date with some interesting vocal work. It's in the spirit of Director's Cut, which I will review any week now, and is apparently released in honour of Director's Cut. I like it. A lot.